Butler Eagle staff finalists for Golden Quills
Several staff entries from the Butler Eagle have been named as finalists in the 2025 Golden Quills competition.
Each year, the Golden Quills honors journalists and news outlets in the region for their expert storytelling and accountability work, receiving hundreds of applications annually from across Western Pennsylvania, as well as parts of Ohio and West Virginia.
The Butler Eagle has two articles up for the same award in the Excellence in Written Journalism, (Division 2) Enterprise/Investigative category.
The first article in that category was titled “Secret Service flaws enabled Trump assassination attempt,” which was written via a collaboration that included former staff writer Irina Bucur, assignment editor Tracy Leturgey and community editor Eddie Trizzino.
The investigation by Spotlight PA, ProPublica and the Butler Eagle revealed that the weaknesses that led to the assassination attempt were not unique to the July rally, but the inevitable breakdown of an already vulnerable system.
“Our input and perspective were essential to the collaboration with Spotlight PA and kick started that investigative piece,” managing editor Donna Sybert said.
The second Butler Eagle entry in that category is a series titled “Changing Pathways: Enterprise Series on how Butler County is rebuilding in the wake of a drug epidemic,” which was brought to life by the entire Butler Eagle newsroom.
Within that series, the Butler Eagle staff looked at the pain, consequence and cost of addiction.
“The impact on health care, emergency medicine resources, court system, prison population, lost job hours and disrupted education is compounded by loss of life and the potential of those who have died from overdoses,” Sybert wrote in a column introducing the series.
The goal was refocus the conversation and highlight new paths forward, she said at that time.
“I am also extremely proud that Changing Pathways is being recognized,” Sybert said earlier this week. “This continued the Eagle’s focus on a substance abuse problem which we have been reporting on in our community since the early 2000s. We showed what worked, what didn’t and, I believe, the series changed people’s perceptions on addiction.”
Trizzino is a finalist for an award in the Profile category for an article with the headline “Meet the 2 brothers who have maintained Butler’s North Side Cemetery for decades.” His story tells of Ron Ealy and Merle Ealy who maintain the North Side Cemetery in Butler.
Laura Crago, host of the Butler Eagle’s Alter Eagle podcast is a finalist for an award in Excellence in Audio Journalism Lifestyle category for an episode titled “BONUS — Mother’s Memories.” Within her podcast, she tells the story of many local mothers around Mother’s Day.
Staff photographer Morgan Phillips is a finalist for an award in the Feature Photo category for her photo titled “Lemonade to kick off the summer,” taken at a Foodie Friday event in downtown Butler last May. In her photo, a beaming Maddox Weltner gives a cookie to a customer at his lemonade stand he set up for the event.
Butler Eagle freelance photographer Holly Mead is a finalist in the Excellence in Journalistic Craft Achievement Spot News Photo category for her photo titled “Racer dies in Lernerville Speedway crash.” Shane Nolan, 51, of Chicora, died following the Sunday, Oct. 13 crash at Lernerville Speedway.
“Holly’s photo of the crash at Lernerville is the essence of breaking news and the heartbreak behind it – often for the journalist, too,” Sybert said.
Winners will be announced during the annual Golden Quills dinner May 28 at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh.
